PARIS (France) – The upcoming Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 will see Puerto Rico relishing their role as underdogs and looking to cause an upset.
They may have fallen short of celebrating a maiden Olympic victory on their debut in Tokyo three years ago, but they subsequently showed at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 some respect has to be put on their name.
They caused a sensation by rolling to the Quarter-Finals in Sydney and that will give food for thought to a lot of their opponents when the action gets underway in Lille.
Will Puerto Rico take a huge leap forward and make history?
The Roster
In terms of their main five, bringing the numbers in the paint will be Mya Hollingshed, a forward who's enjoyed providing a big impact since joining the camp in 2022.
She is a tough assignment both ends of the court as she showed at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in China back in February and she combines well with her teammates.
Then, the outstanding Arella Guirantes has never looked back after her scorching Sydney debut at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022. She will remain the marquee player of the team and make Puerto Rico tick in most situations.
Outside of those two leading lights, Puerto Rico will lean on the ever-reliable quartet of Brianna Jones, Isalys Quinones, Pamela Rosado and Tayra Melendez.
The Question
Can they get it done with a surprise first phase victory against Serbia?
On paper at least, it's likely that China will simply have too much size and quality for them as we saw at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament earlier this year in Xi'An.
Spain look to be locked in and fully focused right now so could be tough to beat. That surely means the Group matchup against Serbia presents the best chance of a first win. Not that Serbia won't be capable of keeping Puerto Rico at arms' length, since they are an experienced team who continue to defy expectations by performing well over and over again.
The Hope
What happened at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 was truly incredible. If they can recapture that level of play, intensity and purpose at the global level, then something equally as exciting could unfold in Paris.
Puerto Rico were a big disappointment at Tokyo 2020. Yes, an Olympic debut was always going to be difficult, but they were so passive and it felt like the tournament passed them by.
So the hope is more about the spirit of Sydney rather than their 'Olympic false start' in the Japanese capital.
The Fear
The leading one-two punch of Guirantes and Hollingshed is a potent one. However, if one of them is not on peak form then Puerto Rico are vulnerable even against mediocre teams.
There is no denying that Guirantes was way below her usual brilliant best at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Puerto Rico almost didn't make it.
They scraped a nervous, unconvincing finger-nail chewing victory against New Zealand that even the most passionate fan of the Islanders would confess they barely deserved.
That can't happen in Paris. Even as underdogs their big-hitters need to perform for their team to have any chance of success.
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